Leasing Space for Your Small Business (Leasing Space for Your Small Business, 1st ed)

Rating:
Summary: Had a high interest until I read this book
Review: I run my own shop and wanted to open a new space across town, but rather than rely on a landlord to just give me good terms, I thought I'd do some research first.

I started with this book, which promises to show you how to negotiate all the terms, etc. But by the time I'd read the first chapter, my head was nodding and an hour had gone by. I didn't retain any information because it was so dry.

I'm sure there's some sort of information to be gleened from it, but you'd have to be a patient reader, not a busy businesswoman like me. I recommend "The Commercial Lease Guidebook."

Rating:
Summary: Combines legal information and business basics on leasing.
Review: One may not expect a legal guide to have business related information on the topic being discussed. Nolo guides are typically an exception to that rule just like this one. There is a lot of information that you will need to put together and decisions to be made before you even get to the point of signing a lease agreement and this book address those concerns on top of the legal aspects to signing leases and neatly ties the two.

For that purpose, the book is divided into two parts - the first part deals with how to prepare for leasing space (evaluating your needs, finding the space, evaluating the space, understanding true costs, coming up with a negotiating strategy, etc.) and the second part deals with the common lease terms (lease basics, length of the lease, security deposits, insurance clauses, breaking the lease, etc.).

My favorite chapter is Chapter 14: Option to Renew or Sublet and Other Flexibility Clause. In this economy, I didn't want to just sign any lease without knowing what my options are if I am forced to sublet. In the personal situation with renting apartments, in the past I had neglected to check these clauses and ended up suffering when I had financial problems and couldn't sublet! This time around I am carefully researching this before signing a long term contract. So I was happy to see this section and learned a lot about Rights of First Refusal and First Offer (I had heard about these things before reading this book but didn't exactly know the implications) among other related topics.

We are currently using this book to lease office space for the first time and finding that this book is saving us a lot of time. And I feel that it is reducing risk in the long term. I am glad I am not depending on 'standard' lease contracts to take care of my needs and instead identifying what my needs are and making sure that the lease agreement addresses those issues. Considering how much research I have been able to do with this book's help, I am confident that this is really going to pay off in the long run. I do plan on working with my lawyer before signing the final contract but it is so helpful to do all the up front work on my own so there is no middle person involved. Even if there are middle people involved, I believe it is going to make the communication smoother as I don't have to depend on them to keep my best interests in mind (as we can guess, they probably won't or may be too involved with their own best interests).

Before Nolo guides, there wasn't much out there to help you understand the law. These books explain the law in plain English. They do a fantastic job too! Lawyers should always be consulted to assist you with legal situations but it is good to have this information ahead of time so communication is smoother and the legal costs lesser. I hope you benefit from this book as much as we have. Good luck!